Strategic crop placement using a virtual trip line for a harvester and crop accumulator combination

ABSTRACT

A harvester and a crop accumulator combination. The harvester is configured to transfer a harvested crop to the crop accumulator. The crop accumulator comprises at least one actuator to selectively discharge the harvested crops onto a field. A GPS unit is configured with at least one virtual trip line. An ECU is in communication with the GPS unit. The ECU is configured to selectively command the actuator of the crop accumulator to discharge harvested crop onto the field when the ECU receives a signal from the GPS unit when at least one of the virtual trip line is being approached, the virtual trip line is being crossed, and the virtual trip line has been crossed.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure generally relates to crop harvesting systems.More particularly this disclosure relates to crop harvesting systemsemploying a harvester and an accumulator for accumulating crop.Specifically, the disclosure relates to such a system wherein a virtualtrip line is provided for depositing crop material at predeterminedlocation(s).

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

One recognized problem with agricultural baling using round and/orsquare balers is that bales are typically discharged from the baler ontothe field in a random fashion. This requires an operator to subsequentlydrive all over the field to collect the bales and relocate them to thefinal storage location. This approach is time consuming; it can causeadditional soil compaction, potential crop damage, and excessive wear onthe transport equipment.

Bale accumulators have been used to gather bales together in batches.When the accumulator is full, it is common to dump the harvested crop inthe location where it is full.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In one embodiment, a method for discharging a harvested crop from a cropaccumulator is disclosed. At least one virtual trip line is establishedusing a Global Positioning System (“GPS”) unit, a laser sender andreceiver, a buried wire, a light beam sender and receiver, a sonarsender and receiver, or other device. A harvest operation is commenced.The harvested crop is transferred to the crop accumulator. It iscommunicated that at least one of the virtual trip line is beingapproached, the virtual trip line is being crossed, and the virtual tripline has been crossed. A discharge system of the crop accumulator isactuated in response to the communication to discharge a portion of theharvested crop or all of the harvested crop. The harvested crop isdeposited on the virtual trip line, adjacent to the virtual trip line,in a zone defined by a predetermined distance from the virtual tripline, or outside of a zone defined by a predetermined distance from thevirtual trip line.

In another embodiment, a harvester and a crop accumulator combination isdisclosed. The harvester is configured to transfer a harvested crop tothe crop accumulator. The crop accumulator comprises at least oneactuator to selectively discharge the harvested crops onto a field. AGPS unit is configured with at least one virtual trip line. AnElectronic Control Unit (“ECU”) is in communication with the GPS unit.The ECU is configured to selectively command the actuator of the cropaccumulator to discharge harvested crop onto the field when the ECUreceives a signal from the GPS unit when the virtual trip line is beingapproached, the virtual trip line is being crossed, or the virtual tripline has been crossed.

In general a virtual trip line system is provided for automatically ormanually activating a bale accumulator whenever the virtual trip line iscrossed. The system consists of a GPS unit and an ECU that is coupled tothe actuators that are used to tilt the accumulator cradle for dumpingthe bales. With this system, the operator defines a virtual trip lineusing a GPS unit and the GPS system then generates a ‘virtual trip line’in the field. Every time the tractor/baler/accumulator combinationdrives across the virtual trip line, the accumulator can beautomatically actuated to dump all of the bales it has stored on it oralternatively an alarm is activated to allow the operator to manuallyactuate the accumulator when the virtual trip line is crossed. The endresult is that the bales are deposited in a row that corresponds to thevirtual trip line and yet the tractor/baler/accumulator does not have tobe operated in a straight line but can follow a windrow as needed.Software can input the virtual trip line based on topography or otherfactors (e.g., soil compaction, predicted crop yield, actual cropyield).

Virtual trip lines can be of various widths. An operator can dropharvested crop on either side of a virtual trip line in order to park atruck in the middle of the virtual trip line and load from either side.A virtual trip line width range of 0-50 feet typically works well fortrucks loading hay. Ranges above 60 feet work well for larger vehicles.Virtual trip lines can also be spaced at intervals based on actual cropyields or predicted crop yields.

While the embodiment described in detail below relates to a round balerand bale accumulator combination it is contemplated that the virtualtrip line can be used in conjunction with other harvester andaccumulator combinations.

Other features and aspects will become apparent by consideration of thedetailed description and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a partial schematic side view of a tractor-baler-baleaccumulator combination.

FIG. 2 is a partial schematic side view of the combination of FIG. 1showing enlarged detail of the baler and bale accumulator.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a crop field wherein the virtual trip linesaccording to the disclosure are employed.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting the control logic for activating theaccumulator relative to the virtual trip line.

Before any embodiments are explained in detail, it is to be understoodthat the disclosure is not limited in its application to the details ofconstruction and the arrangement of components set forth in thefollowing description or illustrated in the following drawings. Thedisclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or ofbeing carried out in various ways. Further embodiments of the inventionmay include any combination of features from one or more dependentclaims, and such features may be incorporated, collectively orseparately, into any independent claim.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a tractor-baler-bale accumulator combination 10according to one embodiment. The tractor-baler-bale accumulatorcombination 10 includes a tractor 12, a baler 14, and a bale accumulator16. The tractor 12 has a frame 18 supported on wheels 20, at least oneof which is driven by a prime mover, such as a diesel engine, through apowertrain (not shown). The tractor 12 further includes a hitch and/ordrawbar 22 and an operator station 24.

The baler 14 has a main frame 26 supported on a pair of ground wheels28. A draft tongue 30 has a rear end joined to the frame 26 and has aforward end defined by a clevis arrangement 32 adapted for being coupledto the drawbar 22 of the tractor 12. A pair of upright side walls 34 arefixed to the main frame 26 and define forward regions of opposite sidewalls of a baling chamber. Mounted for pivoting vertically about ahorizontal pivot arrangement 36 located at an upper rear location of theside walls 34 is a discharge gate 38 including opposite upright sidewalls 40, which define opposite sides of a rear region of the balingchamber. A gate cylinder arrangement (not shown) is coupled between themain frame 26 and the opposite side walls 40 of the discharge gate 38and is selectively operable for moving the discharge gate 38 between aclosed baling position and an opened discharge position. Baler 14 asshown is of a variable size chamber design and thus comprises aplurality of longitudinally extending side-by-side belts 42 supported ona plurality of rollers 44 (only a few of which are shown). A baleforming chamber is defined by the sidewalls 34, 40, the rollers 44 andbelts 42.

At least one ECU 50 is provided for electronically controlling thefunctions of the baler 12 and the accumulator 16. The ECU 50 isconfigured to receive signals from various sensors on the baler andaccumulator (e.g., determining bale diameter, bale shape, bale weight)and for initiating various baler functions (e.g., tying or wrappingcycle, bale ejection, unloading of the accumulator). More particularly,it should be understood that the ECU is configured to provide a signalfor actuation of various actuators on the accumulator to among otherthings discharge bales therefrom only if a bale is present.

In its general operation, the baler 14 is drawn through a field by thetractor 12 attached to the tongue 30. Crop material 52 is fed into acrop inlet 54 of the bale forming chamber from a windrow of crop on theground by a pickup 56. In the baler 14, the crop material 52 is rolledin spiral fashion into a cylindrical bale B. Upon completion, the bale Bis wrapped with twine or other appropriate wrapping material and isdischarged by actuation of gate cylinders that open gate 38 permittingthe completed cylindrical bale B to be discharged from the baler 14 ontothe bale accumulator 16. The baler 14 may further be equipped with meansfor determining when the bale is in an ejection cycle. Such means couldbe in the form of sensors 57 associated with one or more of the twine ornet wrapping system of the baler 14, the gate, the gate latch, the belttensioning system etc. all of which could provide an indication ofcompletion of a bale, as is well known in the art. The baler 14illustrated is shown as an example only, it being understood that thebaler 14 could be of any number of configurations including but notlimited to fixed chamber round balers, small square balers, and largesquare balers.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the bale accumulator 16 has a main frame 58supported on ground wheels 60. One or more draft elements 62 areprovided at an end of the main frame 58 for attaching the baleaccumulator 16 to the baler 14 in a towed fashion. The bale accumulator16 is provided with a bale cradle 64 pivotally affixed to the frame 58.The bale cradle 64 is provided with one or more actuators 66 to raisethe forward portion of the cradle 64 relative to the frame 58 to allowthe bales to roll rearwardly and off the cradle 64 when the baleaccumulator 16 is being unloaded. These actuators 66 may be in the formof hydraulic, electric, pneumatic or other like configurations and areselectively controlled in response to signals received from the ECU 50.The particular round bale accumulator 16 shown receives a completedcylindrical bale B from the baler 14 at a center position 68 (FIG. 2).Depending upon whether or not the other positions on the baleaccumulator 16 are occupied, the bale accumulator 16, by way of the ECU50, selectively utilizes actuators 70 to translate the bale from thefirst center position 68 to either the second 72 or third 74 positionsleft and right of the center position respectively. Again it should benoted that the actuators 70 could be of any known configuration (e.g.,electric, hydraulic, pneumatic). Accordingly when the bale accumulator16 is full, three bales are aligned side-by-side on the cradle 64 andcan be simultaneously discharged onto the ground in the sameside-by-side configuration.

It is contemplated that the bale accumulator 16 could be provided withsensors 76 of various known configurations (e.g., electro-mechanicalswitches, non-contact sensors, load cells) for determining whether ornot a bale is present on the bale accumulator 16 and at which position.The output of such sensors 76 can be connected to the ECU 50 forpurposes which will become apparent as the description continues. Itshould also be noted that it is possible to unload the bale accumulator16 when it has fewer than three bales on it. Likewise it would beconceivable to provide a bale accumulator 16 wherein individual balescould be discharged selectively by providing a multi-part cradle havingindividual actuators for each part. The bale accumulator 16 illustratedis just one example of a bale accumulator 16 capable of carrying threeround bales. It is however, contemplated that the bale accumulator 16could be of any number of shapes, sizes, capacities and configurationsfor accumulating a plurality of bales of various shapes and sizes suchas round, small square and large square bales.

The tractor-baler-bale accumulator combination 10 is further providedwith a GPS receiver 78 in wired or wireless communication with the ECU50 which is, in turn, connected to a display 80 in the operator station24 of the tractor 12. Alternatively a standalone GPS unit could beprovided having a dedicated ECU and display or a cellular phone with GPScapabilities and/or software or a laser sender and receiver, a buriedwire, a light beam sender and receiver, a sonar sender and receiver, orother device. For purposes of this disclosure such a standalone GPS unitrequires at least a wired or wireless output capable of communicatingwith the baler 14 and bale accumulator 16 ECU 50.

The operation of the system and method of the disclosure will now bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. Prior to commencing a balingoperation an operator will determine the desired location(s) wherehe/she would like to deposit bales for later recovery and storage.Selection of the deposit location(s) is generally made for theconvenience of the operator considering, for example, such factors asthe need to reduce soil compaction by reducing traffic on the field,proximity to the storage location, and the topography of the terrain(e.g., the desirability of depositing bales at the top or bottom of ahill rather than on the side of a hill, the desirability of depositingbales at the headlands, along ditches or grass waterways). The numberand frequency of deposit locations along the baling path(s) is alsolimited by the crop yield versus the capacity of the accumulator. Inother words, if a particular field or portion of a field has a higheryield of crop material, more crop will be fed into the baler per unittraveled and thus more bales will be completed over a shorter distance,thereby necessitating the establishment of virtual trip lines that arecloser together. Crop yield for a particular field and crop could bedetermined from historic yield data to generate a predicted crop yieldor, for example, during the baling operation by monitoring the flow ofcrop into the baler using appropriate sensors and/or by monitoring thenumber of bales being produced per unit of distance an actual crop yieldcould be used. Once the operator has determined the desired depositlocation(s) he or she will set in the GPS unit 78 a virtual trip line.

As shown in FIG. 3, an exemplary crop field 82 has a plurality of cropwindrows 84 from which crop material will be baled. The operator has setbetween points 1 a and 1 b a first virtual trip line T₁. Additional triplines T₂, T₃, T₄, T₅, and T₆ are also established between points 2 a and2 b, 3 a and 3 b, 4 a and 4 b, 4 b and 4 c, and 4 d and 4 e,respectively. From the illustration it will be evident that the virtualtrip lines can be established generally perpendicular to the windrows 84as shown in the illustration of trip line T₁ or they can be establishedat various angles to the windrows as shown in the illustration of tripline T₃ . Further it will be noted with reference to virtual trip linesT₄, T₅, and T₆ that a single virtual trip line need not cross the entirefield and that virtual trip lines T can be created to align with terraintopography or for other reasons. More particularly it can be seen that avirtual trip line T₄ is established between points 4 a and 4 b, anadditional virtual trip line T₅ connects points 4 b with 4 c, and afurther virtual trip line T₆ connects points 4 d and 4 e to generallyform a multi-angled virtual trip line across the entire field to followfor example, a topographical contour such as a grass waterway 85.Therefore, an operator can follow a windrow and not worry abouttraveling in a straight line to still cross the virtual trip lines T.

With the virtual trip lines T set it should be apparent that the systemcan be configured, as described in further detail below, toautomatically deposit onto the field any bales present on theaccumulator at the time the virtual trip line is crossed. This isgenerally accomplished through communication of the GPS receiver 78 withthe ECU 50 which in turn commands actuation of the accumulator actuators66 to pivot the accumulator cradle 64 to discharge the bales when asignal has been received from the GPS receiver 78 that a virtual tripline T has been crossed.

With reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4 it can be seen that the logicfor the virtual trip line system begins at 100 when the system is turnedon. Next at 102 the operator selects whether to commence the balingoperation in “auto dump” mode wherein bales will be automaticallydischarged or dumped from the accumulator whenever a virtual trip lineis crossed. If not, the “auto dump” feature is turned off at 104. If theanswer at 102 is “yes”, then the operator establishes a first virtualtrip line that is stored in memory at 110. Next at 112 it is determinedwhether additional trip lines are desired. If the answer at 112 is “yes”the logic loops back to 110 wherein additional trip lines will beestablished and stored. If at 112 the answer is “no”, then at 114 thebaling operation is commenced. At 116 the logic determines whether acompleted bale is present on the accumulator. If at 116 the answer is“no” the logic loops back to 114. If at 116 the answer is “yes” thelogic proceeds to 118 wherein it is determined whether the accumulatoris full. If the answer at 118 is “yes” a notification is sent at 120 tothe operator by way of a visual or audible alarm so that the operatorcan make a decision as to whether to establish additional trip lines, todeposit the bales onto the field at the present location, or totransport the bales to another location for deposit. If however, at 118the answer is “no” then the logic proceeds to 122 wherein it isdetermined whether a virtual trip line has been reached.

Here it should be noted that the determination as to whether there arebales present on the accumulator and whether the accumulator is full canbe made in various ways. As mentioned above, the accumulator can beconfigured with sensors 76 that communicate with the ECU 50 to indicatethe presence of bales on the accumulator. Alternatively, it iscontemplated that in lieu of or in addition to the sensors it ispossible to keep in the ECU 50 a running count of total bales completedand more particularly the number of bales completed since theaccumulator 16 was last dumped.

If at 122 the answer is “no” the logic again loops back to 114. If theanswer at 122 is “yes” it is determined at 124 whether the baler hascompleted the process of ejecting a bale onto the accumulator. If theanswer at 124 is “no” the system awaits the completion of the ejectioncycle at 126 and then proceeds to 128. If the answer at 124 is “yes”then the logic immediately steps to 128 wherein the bales are depositedon the field. It should be noted that steps 124 and 126 of the logic areonly needed for non-continuous balers such as conventional round balerswherein the baling process is temporarily halted during the ejectioncycle. In such systems it is undesirable to open the rear gate of thebaler while the accumulator is being dumped and vice-versa due topossible interference of the gate with the accumulator cradle. For largeand small square balers and/or continuous round balers steps 124 and 126may not be necessary. After 128 the logic reverts to 114.

In view of the foregoing it can be seen that the disclosure provides amethod and apparatus for automatically dumping accumulated bales atpredetermined locations. More particularly, as the baling operationprogresses up and down the windrows of crop the tractor-baler-baleaccumulator combination periodically crosses the pre-set virtual triplines at which time any bales present on the accumulator are depositedon the ground. This method results in bales being located closertogether at the deposit locations of the operator's choosing resultingin more convenient and efficient retrieval of bales during thecollection and storage operation. Time needed for bale collection isreduced, thus also reducing the operating time and wear and tear onequipment. Additionally soil compaction and crop damage can be reducedby utilizing the system to reduce traffic on the field during balecollection. The system is compatible with conventional baling equipmentand techniques in that it allows the operator to utilize conventionalbalers and accumulators and to perform the baling operation without theneed to deviate from the windrow during baling to deposit bales at moreadvantageous locations inasmuch as this is performed automatically asthe pre-determined virtual trip lines are crossed.

Various features are set forth in the following claims.

1. A method for discharging a harvested crop from a crop accumulator, the method comprising: establishing at least one virtual trip line; commencing a harvest operation; transferring the harvested crop to the crop accumulator; communicating that at least one of: the virtual trip line is being approached, the virtual trip line is being crossed, and the virtual trip line has been crossed; actuating a discharge system of the crop accumulator, in response to the communication, to discharge one of: a portion of the harvested crop and all of the harvested crop from the crop accumulator; and depositing the harvested crop according to at least one of the following: on the virtual trip line, adjacent to the virtual trip line, in a zone defined by a predetermined distance from the virtual trip line, and outside of a zone defined by a predetermined distance from the virtual trip line.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of establishing at least one virtual trip line is accomplished by using at least one of: a GPS unit, a laser sender and receiver, a buried wire, a light beam sender and receiver, and a sonar sender and receiver.
 3. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining if the harvested crop is present on the crop accumulator prior to actuating the discharge system.
 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining if the crop accumulator is full before the virtual trip line has been crossed.
 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising monitoring the presence of harvested crop on the crop accumulator using at least one sensor on the crop accumulator.
 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising monitoring the presence of harvested crop on the crop accumulator by keeping an account of the amount of harvested crop on the crop accumulator since the crop accumulator was last discharged.
 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing at least one of: an audible signal and a visual signal to an operator that the crop accumulator is full and that the virtual trip line has not yet been crossed.
 8. The method of claim 1 further comprising awaiting the completion of the harvesting operation prior to actuating the discharge system.
 9. The method of claim 1 further comprising establishing the trip line based upon at least one of: proximity to a storage location and a topography of a field.
 10. The method of claim 1 further comprising establishing intervals between virtual trip lines based upon one of: an actual crop yield and a predicted crop yield.
 11. The method of claim 10 further comprising determining the predicted crop yield based upon a historical yield data for a field and a type of crop.
 12. The method of claim 10 further comprising determining the actual crop yield based upon a sensed rate of crop flow during the harvest operation.
 13. The method of claim 10 further comprising determining the actual crop yield based upon an amount of harvested crop produced per unit of travel over the field.
 14. A harvester and a crop accumulator combination, the harvester being configured to transfer a harvested crop to the crop accumulator, the crop accumulator comprising at least one actuator to selectively discharge the harvested crop onto a field, the combination further comprising: a GPS unit configured with at least one virtual trip line; and an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) in communication with the GPS unit, the ECU configured to selectively command the actuator of the crop accumulator to discharge harvested crop onto the field when the ECU receives a signal from the GPS unit when at least one of: the virtual trip line is being approached, the virtual trip line is being crossed, and the virtual trip line has been crossed.
 15. The harvester and crop accumulator combination of claim 14, wherein the crop accumulator has at least one sensor for detecting the presence of the harvested crop on the crop accumulator.
 16. The harvester and crop accumulator combination of claim 14, wherein the combination is towed behind a tractor having an operator station and a display in the operator station, the display in communication with at least one of: the GPS unit and the ECU.
 17. The harvester and crop accumulator combination of claim 14, wherein the ECU is configured to command actuation of the actuator of the crop accumulator only if the harvested crop is present on the crop accumulator.
 18. The harvester and crop accumulator combination of claim 14, wherein the ECU is configured to command actuation of the actuator of the crop accumulator only if the harvester is not in an ejection cycle.
 19. The harvester and crop accumulator combination of claim 14, wherein the ECU is configured to provide one of: an audible alarm and visual alarm to an operator if the crop accumulator is full.
 20. The harvester and crop accumulator combination of claim 14, wherein the crop accumulator has a bale cradle pivotally mounted to a frame and the actuator is connected between the bale cradle and the frame to selectively pivot the bale cradle relative to the frame.
 21. The harvester and crop accumulator combination of claim 14, wherein the harvester is equipped with a sensor for determining if the harvester is in an ejection cycle and the ECU is in communication with the sensor for determining if the harvester is in the ejection cycle.
 22. A harvester and a crop accumulator combination, the harvester configured to transfer a harvested crop to the crop accumulator, the crop accumulator comprising at least one actuator to selectively discharge the harvested crop onto a field, the combination further comprising: a GPS unit configured with at least one virtual trip line, the GPS unit configured to provide a signal to an operator when to command the actuator of the crop accumulator to discharge the harvested crop onto the field such that the harvested crop is deposited according to at least one of the following: on the virtual trip line, adjacent to the virtual trip line, in a zone defined by a predetermined distance from the virtual trip line, and outside of a zone defined by a predetermined distance from the virtual trip line.
 23. The harvester and crop accumulator combination of claim 22, wherein the GPS unit is a mobile phone comprising a software application that creates the virtual trip line and the software application provides the signal to the operator when to command the actuator of the crop accumulator to discharge the harvested crop onto the field. 